Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-10-05

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

Some people think that competition at work, at school and in daily life is a good thing. Others believe that we should try to cooperate more, rather than competing against each other.

Discuss both these views and give your own opinion.

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

Student answer (Band 5.5)

The students talk about the competative works, at the school and daily life routine to betters things. And others side believes that we should tries states bussiness rather than competing exam.

Competition is a common part of our life. Some people believes that competition is good because it makes people works harder and achieve their goals. However, other people think cooperations is more important because people can help each other. In my opinion, both competition and cooperation are useful, but cooperation is more important in daily life the have come with lot of fun and cultures peoples come and works togathers.

On the one hand, competition can have some advantages. When people compete with others, they often try to improve their skills and performance. For example, students may study harder when they know that other students are getting higher marks. Similarly, workers may work harder to get a promotion or a better salary. Competition can also help people become more confident and responsible. Therefore, a healthy level of competition can encourage people to achieve better results.

On the other hand, cooperation is also very important. When people work together, they can share their knowledge, ideas and experience. This can help them solve problems more easily. For example, in a school project, students can divide the work between themselves and complete the project faster. At work, employees can cooperate with each other to finish an important task. Cooperation can also create better relationships between people and reduce unnecessary stress.

In my opinion, competition is useful when it is understand yours self through out, but people should not always try to defeat others. Cooperation is more beneficial because most problems in real life require people to work together. For example, scientists, doctors and researchers often cooperate to develop new medicines and treatments.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the task by discussing both the views on competition and cooperation and providing a clear personal opinion. The introduction presents the topic, though the opening sentences are awkward and confusing with phrases like 'competative works' and 'tries states bussiness'. The body paragraphs present relevant ideas with supporting examples, such as students studying harder for higher marks and employees working towards a promotion. However, some ideas remain slightly under-developed; for instance, the explanation of cooperation in school projects and workplaces is quite basic and could have been extended with deeper analysis or more nuanced examples. Despite these limitations in development and the flawed introductory framing, the main requirements of the prompt are covered.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a clear paragraph structure. Each paragraph has a distinct focus, moving logically from an introduction to arguments for competition, arguments for cooperation, and a concluding opinion. Cohesive devices are used to signal shifts in perspective, such as 'On the one hand' and 'On the other hand', which helps guide the reader through the contrasting viewpoints. However, cohesion is sometimes mechanical or faulty, particularly in the opening paragraph and transitions where referencing is not always entirely clear, such as 'the have come with lot of fun'. Paragraphing is used sufficiently and appropriately, but the logical progression between sentences occasionally falters due to awkward phrasing.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, providing enough range to discuss competition and cooperation with some precision. The writer attempts less common vocabulary, such as 'promotion', 'responsible', 'unnecessary stress', and 'researchers', demonstrating an acceptable working lexicon. However, there are noticeable errors in word choice, spelling, and word form throughout the text, including 'competative', 'bussiness', 'exam' instead of 'against each other', 'cooperations', and 'understand yours self through out'. While these lexical errors occur with some frequency and show a limited control over less common items, they do not severely impede overall communication.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The response exhibits a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing structures such as 'When people compete with others, they often try to...' and 'Competition can also help people become...'. There are some successful complex sentences, but also a number of errors in grammar and punctuation. Examples of grammatical slips include 'makes people works harder' (bare infinitive error), 'people believes' (subject-verb agreement), 'daily life the have' (article/pronoun confusion), and awkward phrasing in the conclusion 'when it is understand yours self'. These errors are present throughout the text, but they rarely impede communication, allowing the reader to follow the main arguments without complete distortion of meaning.

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